One of the reasons some learners of English as a foreign language have difficulty with pronunciation is they do not have similar sounds in their own language. They may be lacking the correct muscle control to produce sounds but since we gain a lot of our early language learning development in our own languages by imitation, isn't it natural to transfer this to learning a second language? Beginners, especially, often don't have a complete understanding of explanations of words if given in a foreign language so we believe the visual approach is much better. It's direct and needs no explanation (although help from a teacher is very useful). The software, when used in conjunction with the included mirror, can give students great progress, often even in a short period of time. However, long-term benefit is usually achieved with regular practice of several minutes per day.

For busy teachers

Teachers have to cope with many areas when teaching English as a foreign language. When teaching pronunciation, each student needs individual practice. SAYS can help. Students can be shown how to use the software effectively (by clicking on different views and concentrating on their own performance using the mirror) and left to practice alone while the teacher moves onto another student. SAYS also comes with extra practice words that you can help your students with, and website links you can click on that will take you to a site with downloadable lesson plans that will take all the work out of preparing your own materials, and sound files you can play, instead of using your own voice as a model.

For students with no access to native-English speaking teachers

Some students have no direct access to English-as-first-language speakers but need to understand how to produce realistic sounds. SAYS will help as it is based on the articulatory movements of native speakers. The software is easy to use and comes with instructions on how to get the best out of it.

Step-by-step guide

As well as the user manual, SAYS comes with a simply worded step-by-step guide to get the most out of the software. It explains how to work on the program and then improve further with the aid of external links and files, both written and audio.

An example of how it helps Asian speakers

There are several parts of Asia where distinct sounds of English are either missing or confused when native speakers of other languages speak their own language, for example, in Japan and other countries, the R and L sounds are often confused. Part of learning how to make the correct pronunciation involves the action of the tongue. But how can we see what is happening with the tongue. SAYS makes it much clearer with our cutaway views. It is easy with our software to see the tongue curling behind the upper teeth in an initial L sound.

Models better than the real thing?

Although our animated models look very realistic, they are also easy to follow because they are placed against a neutral background and only the necessary parts are seen. For example, coming back to the L sound mentioned earlier, when viewing the face from a side view, the skin is made slightly translucent on the model and the tongue can be seen moving inside the mouth. On other sounds where the position of the tongue is less important, only the outside of the skin is shown but it is easy for students to focus on the shape of the lips.

Practice, practice, practice

Of course, the computer never gets bored even with constant repetition. This is a great advantage in that the student can try by him/herself and the teacher does not need to listen to every practiced instance. The teacher can come back after a few minutes to check on progress of students. If a webcam or other video equipment is installed, the students can use other video/audio recording software (such as Apple Quicktime) in conjunction with SAYS to check on performance.